Astros 5, Padres 3: Astros take tough road out of NL basement

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The express lane to a fifth victory and out of the National League basement was closed. What appeared in parts of its flight to be Matt Downs’ go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning missed foul by just a few feet.

Denied the quick way, the Astros had only the hard way, and they made that work. They manufactured the same two runs over the course of Downs’ at-bat and four subsequent plate appearances in a 5-3 victory over the Padres that was probably as complete a team effort as they will have this year.

“Hopefully I can remember all the good things that happened,” said Astros manager Brad Mills, going on to point out key contributors in every phase of the game. “That was a good night.”

It all peaked in the seventh with a dramatic thwarting of San Diego’s potential go-ahead rally via a Carlos Lee diving catch followed by an Astros rally that started with walks to Chris Johnson and Downs by deteriorating starter Mat Latos.

With the score still tied at 3, former Astros reliever Chad Qualls came on and got Humberto Quintero to ground into a forceout with Downs sliding in hard at second base to break up what could have been an inning-ending double play. A first-pitch, pinch-hit single by Joe Inglett, his first pinch hit with the Astros, gave them a 4-3 lead.

Inglett, whose approach is to swing on the first pitch, has now seen just 33 pitches in 14 plate appearances (one aborted by a caught stealing) this year — a 2.36 average compared to the National League figure of 3.77.

“The first pitch is probably the best pitch you’re going to get in the at-bat, and you don’t want to get to the secondary (pitch),” Inglett said.

After a Michael Bourn walk, Angel Sanchez’s RBI infield single doubled the lead as Bourn hustled into second, leaving shortstop Alberto Gonzalez with no play.

Winning hand

The inning was a full house of three walks over two singles, all started by an unlikely man in Johnson, who entered the game with an unintentional walk every 28.5 plate appearances — roughly once a week of playing every day.

The Astros had their theories when Latos walked two in a row. Fatigue setting in, thought Downs. Good swings possibly in his head, thought Mills, as Johnson had tied the game with his first home run of the year in the fourth and Downs had just rocketed one a seat or five foul. (For the record, Latos said he “just wasn’t feeling it.”)

Johnson said he just had to battle and earn it.

“One thing I have to work on is being able to take my walks when they’re given to me, so it was a good thing for us,” he said.

The sustained rally made a winner of Mark Melancon, who inherited two runners from Nelson Figueroa and stranded them both as the only batter he faced, Orlando Hudson, was robbed on a diving catch by Lee coming toward the line and leaving to a standing ovation.

Melancon kept his ERA at 0.00 for the year and now has stranded all 14 runners he’s inherited since coming to the Astros in the Lance Berkman trade.

Two teams that had combined for 16 runs in their last five meetings (the Padres scoring 11 and the Astros five) got off to an uncharacteristic start. The Padres scored two in the first off good at-bats and shaky defense, while the Astros got one back in the bottom on a Hunter Pence RBI double.

Figueroa, however, settled down into his best start of the young season, giving up just one more run for a total of three (two earned) in 6 2⁄3 innings.

Of course, how could the night end without one more big play, as Pence prevented the two hits Lyon would surrender from being meaningful with a spectacular grab diving toward the right field line and wall.

“Unbelievable,” Lyon said of Pence’s catch, passing along another compliment in an Astros’ clubhouse full of them.